Episode 5: Why Mentoring Matters No Matter Who You Are

The Secret of Successful Mentoring With Jenny Q. Ta and Shinta Dhanuwardoyo

Well into a great conversation with Jenny Q. Ta, and her friend and co-founder Shinta Dhanuwardoyo, I become curious about the value of mentorship in their journey as successful entrepreneurs and investors.

Ryan: So that people don’t make those same mistakes that you did or so they can do it, talk about the value of mentorship as you sort of have grown, but even … Do you have mentors now that you work with yourself? Are you at the top of that food chain?

Jenny: We both had a number of mentors in the past, but now I believe both Shinta and I mentor one another.

Ryan: Yeah.

Jenny: Shinta gets her inspiration and mentorship from Sheryl Sandberg because they’ve met a number of times. Sheryl is very inspirational to Shinta.

Overall, I believe Shinta and I have gone through just about everything there is when comes to startups and the business world. She’s in the tech world, I’m in the Wall Street world. We’ve learned so much and it seems to be kind of colliding similar. We share … We mentor each other. As we mentor these young startups, we also learn the obstacles that they’re going through. We sort of know the answer already only because we have already walked that path.

Ryan: Right.

Ryan Foland

Shinta: Even though some of the obstacles that they’re going through we may not have gone through before, but because it’s similar to what we’ve dealt with, we know how to resolve such situations. Mentorship is always important, and I still get my mentorship by different people we meet on a daily basis. As they share their success stories or failures, it is a lesson to be learned.

Jenny: For example, I learn from talking to you or from Brian (Expert DOJO), I mean whoever it is that I meet and went through a conversation, that’s mentoring. We pick each other’s brain and we’re at a different level. I mean, you don’t sit down like, “Okay, I’m mentoring you. You’re going to listen to me.” No. It’s just realizing that everyone can learn from everyone.

Ryan: So being mentored at its core is being open to learning.

Jenny: Exactly.

Shinta: Yeah.

Jenny: It’s an excellent form of mentoring …

Shinta: Yeah. I think I even learned from the startups when I talk to them. I think we will always learn from anyone. I think we need to keep on learning. We cannot always say that we’re already top of the food chain and that’s it. I think it’s both ways. Even from startups, I learn a lot from them … There’s always new things that you learn every day from anyone.

Takeaways: 1.Important that business partners are mentoring each other 2.Mentors are important but it doesn’t have to be formal 3.Talk to the people you meet, ask questions, learn from them

About the author

RYAN FOLAND

Ryan Foland coaches leaders worldwide on the art of simplifying spoken and written messaging for greater impact. Foland has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as a Top Youth Marketer in 2016 and named by Entrepreneur Magazine as a Top Personal Branding Expert in 2017. Ryan’s company, InfluenceTree, specializes in helping individuals and companies discover, communicate and grow their brands. To learn more about Ryan visit his website RyanFoland.com.